Murr, Andrew. "Motherhood and Murder."
This article examines Andrea Yates's multiple cases of filicide, the media's reaction to it, and the impacts of overwhelming expectations from her family, postpartum depression, and psychosis in her specific case. Annotation Murr, Andrew, Kevin Peraino, Evan Thomas, Dirk Johnson, and Evan Smith. “Motherhood and Murder.” Newsweek 1 July 2001. Web. 14 September 2013. Quotes and Notes “But Andrea Yates must have been possessed by a demonic energy, and perhaps the boy was too stupefied by the horror of his mother’s betrayal to resist.” “It all seemed so monstrous and perverse and unthinkable…” “About 200 children are killed by their mothers every year, according to Justice statistics.” “…put together a portrait of Yates that at least hints at why she felt driven beyond all hope to self-hatred and murder. Most mass killers are sociopaths, utterly alienated from other human beings. They are callous or sadistic. Andrea was the opposite; if anything, she apparently cared too much. She may have felt she could never do enough for her demanding husband. In a horribly twisted way, she may have tried to be too good a mother.” Demanding husband AND demanding children (5 under the age of 7 is a LOT to handle) The impossibility of achieving perfection and not being able to “do it all” as psychologically impossible to bear Saw herself as flawed, incapable of “good mothering,” so removing the children from her via murder may have been justified as the best thing for the children in that moment “’She was always trying to be such a good girl,’ Andrea’s mother, Jutta Kennedy, told a Newsweet reporter…’Always thinking of other people, never herself.’” Note from Almond shows me bringing up the “Good Girl, Starving Daughter” ideology “Between caring for her father and her children, it is hard to think that Andrea ever had time for herself.” And probably her husband, I can’t see Rusty as someone who would come home and make his own supper. She not only had to care for them but was also responsible for their education, discipline, and moral guidance (they were home schooled by her so she was around them ALL THE TIME). Andrea Yates attempted suicide via overdose on her father’s prescription pills two years before murdering her children --> fears herself and her anger towards/around her children so she tried to eliminate herself first (remove herself from her children, doesn’t harm them physically and can save them from her “disease” and “bad” self) I get the sense that Rusty was very controlling, to an abusive degree. Author brings him up as “demanding” in the article, but don’t even describe her children with the same word (ambivalence at describing children as not entirely good, perhaps, on the author’s part). Neighbor’s quote: “He didn’t want her working at all…He wanted her to stay at home.” Takes away Andrea’s level of choice and any possible outlet for self-expression and feelings of self-worth that are separate from her children. Also denies the idea that taking care of the children is “work.” This is enhanced by the push for her to home school them. Her brother, Brian’s cryptic response when asked about the family’s support of Rusty: “I’d like to say some things, but the truth will eventually come out.” Seems to imply that something is being kept secret about Rusty, perhaps his abusive, isolating, controlling qualities. “It is hard to conceive of the snakes that were writhing in her head.” --> What’s up with this Medusa image? Think about how often Medusa's head/image appears in [http://monster-mothers.wikia.com/wiki/Creed,_Barbara._The_Monstrous-Feminine. The Monstrous Feminine], especially in relation to the vagina dentata. “She would tell police only that she believed she was a bad mother, and that her children were hopelessly damaged.” --> Damaged by her bad/failed mothering